Future..

Sometimes the tasks gets overwhelming...

The dishes

that never end..

the accidents that

need to be cleaned..

the noses to wipe..

the tears to dry..

the voices

to quiet..

the beds to make

All the tasks

sometimes make me forget..

for a moment

that I am not called to parent

"tasks"

I am called to parent

little wonderful people..

with a future..

a purpose..

A whole life ahead that I can't even begin to imagine...

When I remember that..

The tasks

become significant..

They are all little ways I am preparing them for their future..

Their wonderful..

amazing..

God given..

future.

And I get to be a part of it.

"You've been handed a piece of history in advance- a gracious gift sent to a time you will not see"

-Tim Kimmel Grace Based Parenting

For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Hair today, gone tomorrow

I knew the day was going to come..

I knew it was bound to happen..

I just knew it.

Aria cut her hair.

I would really like to blame

"Tangled"

or 

the person

who pretended to cut her hair with play doh scissors..

In fact,

I have blamed them both.

But the fact of the matter is.

I am the one

who had 12 inches of my hair cut off..

In the kitchen..

with her watching.

I guess I can take a little bit of the blame too..

But Disney is getting most of it..

Because they are a multi billion dollar company..

I have a right to blame corporations 

for my lack of judgment.

Right?

Right.

We will all sitting at the table.

Aria was doing a project.

Gibson was doing a project.

I was helping Jack with a puzzle..

I thought to my self

"wow this is peaceful"

and then as I always do

 when that thought comes to my mind..

I looked around frantically

 for the mischief that had to be happening at that moment.

And that's when I saw it..

Beautiful curls..

falling to the table..

I gasped

Aria 's little eyes brimmed with tears..

and started saying

"So sorry, scissors are for cutting paper, I am sorry, Momma"

I felt awful..

because lets be honest..

my gasp was more like a screech.

Hugged her..

let her know it's just hair,

 Momma's not mad.

I literally said it 10 times..

"It's just hair, baby girl...just hair."

I think I might have been crying too.

The truth is..

It was just a few inches of hair..

It is so easy to get caught up in things..

To make them bigger than they are..

to make them worse than they are..

But it's just hair.

And, of course, a mullet never goes out of style.

Picture Perfect

I tried to take the kids picture.
Together.
All 3.
I could write about it.
Instead here is a picture..
that captures the essence of that experience.

I am framing it.

Embrace the camera..

Tea time with my little girl..

Love..

Happy Birthday to my little girl...

Dear Ari--Belle,
My little lady.. As I write this you are singing.. you actually are always singing.. and twirling around. You have such a spark in you... a look in your eyes that says you can do anything you put your mind too.. and you can sweet girl.. I had all these fears.. how you and your brother would get along.. were we crazy having you two so close together.. but then I had you.... you had my heart completely from the moment I heard your little cry.. and all those silly fears just melted away..
Little girl.. you have a sweet spirit  and an awesome sense of humor.. I am so blessed to be your Momma..you are a joy.
Happy Birthday my Aria..
I love you,
Momma

My prayer....

Dear Gibson,Aria and Jackson

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,

  the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 

 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 

 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

Embrace the ride..

Riding the roller coaster was one of my favorite moments with my little girl...
She had ridden the ride 2 times already with her Auntie..
While I was standing with Baby Jack,
She came running out..
Face so excited..
"Momma, come with me!"
So I went..
and as we RAN through the line..
She kept telling me what to expect..
How awesome it was..
That I HAD to raise my hands..

In that special moment..
where my little girl..
was so precious and sweet..
I also saw a grown up side to Ari..
One who was willing to take risk..
Wanting to do things on her one..
I saw her wonderful brave personality shine through..
And as much as I want her to stay little..
I saw a glimpse of big Aria..
And I realized..
I liked her very much..

side note: this was the only time my hands were up during the ride, they were wrapped around Ari the whole time.. partly because she is so little and partly because I am a chicken.. I am scared of a roller coaster that goes 3 feet off the ground..for real.

I am on a mission...

When I was around 8..

I won poem writing contest..

for mother's day..

Impressed right?

OK here is the truth..

by win..

I mean tied for first..

and by poem writing contest..

I mean a contest with like 6 other kids at our church's mothers day banquet..

Still impressed aren't you?

With such prestige surrounding the poem..

surely you can see why almost 20 years later..

I still have it memorized...

A Mother's mission never ends..

In Fact it just begins..

Each day of a mother's life..

from cooking to cleaning to making the beds..

A Mother's mission isn't the easiest..

but perhaps it is the best..



Here is the thing 8 year old me didn't realize..
that my mission as a mommy..
has nothing to do with housekeeping and culinary skills..
My mission is to love on those kiddos..
(even though having a clean house and feeding them is loving them)

It's to find patience when I have none..
To be understanding when my lip gloss has been used to create a masterpiece on the wall..

To get on the floor and play with them..
when I have a sink full of dishes and rooms to clean..
because they are more important than tasks..

To always speak kindly of their Daddy...
To be on my knees lifting them up to the Father who loves them more than I can fathom...

That is my mission..
to raise kids to know the wonderful love of our Saviour..

So today..
there are many tasks to do..
But only one mission..
To Love God, love others
in everything that I do..
It is more important for me to have a loving house..
than a clean one..

Oh Happy day..

Gibson..
has decided 2 things
1. He no longer wants to be called Gibby Gibby Gum Drops....
:(
2. He wants to pick out his own clothes..
which results in the awesome combo of flannel and camo.
:)
One of those choices makes me sad.. the other smile..
But both show me my little boy is growing up..

Aria
has always wanted to pick her own clothes..
and by always..
I mean every since she could vocalize..
so basically always..
Today she got to pick out several outfits because..
well,
 today was one of those potty training days..

Jackson
Well,
 he can't pick out his clothes..
But he thinks his siblings are the best...
And I think so too.

Have a Happy Weekend!!

Do what I say.. don't say what I say..

I find my self hearing a similar phrase to this:

"Mom so and so took back their toy!!!!"

To which my standard reply is:

"They let you play with it. That was nice of them wasn't it? BUT it's theirs."

Which is usually met with a sigh.

If they had enough coordination to roll their eyes..

they would.

it's good for them that they can't roll their eyes,

because I have an equaling annoying spiel about eye rolling.

Yesterday I was taught how absolutely frustrating it is to hear.

Me: Oh Ari, you found my clip.

Aria: No, Momma it's mine.

Me: Well, actually Aria, Memaw gave it to me.

Aria: That was nice of her wasn't it? BUT now it's mine.

I rolled my eyes.

Because I can.

I say annoying things.

Mommy daughter date..

Gibson is with my sister today..

So Ari and I had a mommy daughter date..

which consisted of:

tu tu's

(she is disappointed I don't have one. So am I actually)

Angelina Ballerina

and Swiss Cake rolls..

What can I say she is a girl after my own heart

This little man woke up..

from his nap..

I use the term nap loosely..

30 minutes dude?

So we got to hang out with his cuteness too.

See how my cuties turn into little Zombies when the TV is on?

Yuck.

No winter blues here...

We are all done with winter over here..

The only problem the weather isn't.

So even though

this weekend will be cold..

and some

white, cold stuff will be falling from the sky..

We are going to put on shades on..

and pretend it's sunny with a high of 75.

HAPPY WEEKEND!!!!!

Old tableclothes..

Old Tablecloths make the Best Fort/Tent/Boxcar/Spaceship

The Best Playtime.

Day 16: letter to Ari

Dear Ari,

The world is going to try to tell you what beauty is.

What shape,

color,

size

Beauty comes in.

It's going to say beauty is about how you look.

Or even beauty is all about loving yourself.

As much as I want you to love who God made you.

That's not what beauty is.

Beauty comes from a selfless love.

A love that chooses to believe the good when surrounded by the bad.

A love that loves though no one else will.

A love that stands for justice, even when it's standing alone.

A love that hopes against hope.

A love that chooses to follow Christ and love like He loved.

Beauty is so much more precious than so many make it out to be...

Love God, Love others.

That's beauty, sweet girl.

Day 13: Something you would like to change about yourself for the better.

Aria is (almost) fearless..

She is the one who tries to drive her tricycle down the stairs...

Not Gibby,

even though I am pretty sure she is the test pilot

to see if these things are dangerous..

and then he jumps on the bandwagon if it is safe..

which usually it isn't.

She is the one who believes..

that you really can be a Princess and an Astronaut..

as a career choice...

but yet she is afraid of the dark..

Afraid that she just might get sucked down the bathtub drain..

I remember when I was like that..

When I thought anything was possible..

Then you grow up

and reality sets in..

It tells you the dark is nothing to be afraid of..

but it also tells you dreams are out of reach..

And fears become more realistic

fear of failure..

rejection..

I want to get back to Ari's kind of

fearless..

I want to get back that attitude of

"it is possible"

That's what I want to change..

the fear that stops me from trying..

The fear that makes me OVER THINK..

every decision.

The fear that makes dreams out of reach..

UPDATE: Court said something that really describes what I want to be like..

Faith filled instead of fearful..

True Beauty.....

As i sit and write this..

there is beautiful little girl..

Twirling around me..

Wearing a sparkling tiara..

Princess skirt..

and dress up shoes..

That she is surprisingly

very agile in....

She waves a wand around...

singing

"Beautiful Girl, Beautiful Girl"

I love this moment..

I love how she so easily accepts

she is beautiful..

I love that the words

"Aria, you are beautiful"

fall on listening ears..

She has no reason to doubt this..

She has never known rejection..

Never had someone doubt her..

Never felt the sting of..

You are not good enough..

You are not beautiful..

All she knows is the love her mommy and daddy give her,

All she knows is the truth

that as we grow we forget..

We are Fearfully and Wonderfully made..

And we are Loved.

My heart aches for the days

The days that I know will come..

When she hears the first lie..

The lie telling her..

she is not beautiful..

she is not enough..

She needs something else to be beautiful..

So I will fight..

so that

my daughter knows true beauty..

that she knows

true Love is from God..

And even on her darkest days..

There is Someone who loves her..

Someone who created her..

Someone who thinks she is beautiful...

So I joined a little project called Project 31..

For that little Princess twirling around...

And they played for a hour...

Dried beans: 96 cents

Plastic containers: in our cabinet..

Hundreds of dollars spent on Christmas toys: pointless

side note: while that is not entirely true.. they love the presents they got.. it's just funny how we sometimes forget that kids already have the best present ever: an imagination.. and it doesn't require batteries (which is great because we are ALWAYS out of batteries).. plus pointless kinda sounds like priceless... wordplay

side note part 2: I realize my first side note kind of cheesy :"the best present ever: an imagination." but it is true so I stick by the cheesiness.

A remix

It's easy to just sing a song..

Any 2 year old can do that.

But to remix a hit song with a classic song..

while being accompanied by your brother on a kazoo..

Talent, people.

Talent

Can you tell which two songs she is singing?

Cheer up, Charlie.

Yes, it's Monday..

Yes, you may be feeling the holiday is over blues..

Yes, most people went back to work.

Yes, weekends and holidays are too short..

Yes, work weeks are too long.

Yes, leftovers are only good for 6 days..

which means you only have 2 more days of turkey..

bummer.

But

Christmas is only 27 days away!

Here is some music to get the party started.

Yes, this is Hanson

Yes, this is probably the most obnoxious Christmas song ever..

Yes, I did it on purpose..

Yes, you probably hate me a little now.

HAPPY MONDAY!

I am not late I am early for next year..

2 things that will shock you...

wait for it..

1. I didn't have my camera for Halloween..

gasp..

That doesn't sound like me at all...

sarcasm..

and

2. I did something to blogger..

so that it's text is really small so I can't read it.

And here is the last thing that I will add on for free..

I don't know how to fix it..

So basically I am guessing what I am writing...

So if there are a lot of errors..

or obscenities..

sorry

(I know there won't be any obscenities, but that was my fear every time I handed a paper in at college.. I mean I went to a Bible college.. obscenities... scandalous.)

Any way here is the one pic from Halloween...

Gibson had a costume change..

He was Batman for trick or treating..

And Luigi to round out the Mario Kart bunch...

And Aria had on wings, a crown and a wand..

She was going as Princess Peach..

But took some creative liberties..